Nonwoven composite fabrics are used in a variety of applications such as garments, disposable medical products, diapers and personal hygiene products. In many of these applications, good softness and drape properties are important in order to provide comfort, conformability and freedom of body movement.
In Sabee U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,153,664 and 4,223,063, it is disclosed that the softness and drapeability of composite nonwoven fabrics, formed for example from a meltblown or spunbonded nonwoven fabric, can be improved by drawing or stretching the fabric. More particularly, according to Sabee, the composite nonwoven fabrics are processed by differentially drawing or stretching the web to form a quilted pattern of drawn and undrawn areas, providing a product with enhanced softness, texture and drapeability. However, while the stretching may improve some fabric properties, it can adversely affect other important fabric physical properties, such as abrasion resistance, for example.
Fibrous webs formed of polyethylene possess properties which make them desirable for incorporation into composite nonwoven fabrics. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,045 to Fowells, spunbonded webs formed from low density polyethylene are particularly advantageous, possessing excellent hand, softness, and drape properties. Moreover, these fibers are capable of elongating to over 200% of their unstretched length upon mechanical stretching. Nonetheless, in spite of these advantages, elongation severely disrupts fiber tie down within the composite nonwoven fabric. As a result, the fibers detach, giving the fabric an unsightly fuzzed appearance. In addition, such detachment causes a noticeable loss in fabric strength.